Funny Car?
Posted on 06/22/2008 6:13:57 AM PDT by xcamel
ENGLISHTOWN, N.J. -- He was strong and determined, wearing a name that exemplified the tough and unforgiving attitude drag racing demands from its winners. Scott Kalitta lost his life in a top-end accident at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park while driving his DHL-sponsored nitro Funny Car on Saturday.
The violence of the crash and the stultifying devastation that ended his life at 46 years of age was a sobering shock to the drag-racing world at a time when much is being made about the safety advances that have recently enhanced the level of protection Funny Car drivers can count on. But beneath the painful realities of the catastrophic accident that claimed Kalitta's life, the sport mourns a racer, a father, a son and a two-time champion who took great pride and satisfaction in the tradition and historical significance the name Kalitta brought to drag racing.
Kalitta's father, Connie Kalitta, was one of the sport's founding fathers in the 1950s and '60s, building and driving an infamous string of front-engined Top Fuel dragsters bearing the name "Bounty Hunter." Connie Kalitta was a no-compromise, no-excuses, no-retreat, hard-nosed competitor who raced to win and did whatever was necessary to accomplish that. Scott was the mirror of his dad, and there was no better example of his unbreakable will to win than his exceptional performances during his back-to-back Top Fuel title years in 1994 and 1995. With legendary tuner Dick LaHaie guiding his team,
Scott was the most feared and respected driver in the class, and veteran NHRA drag racing announcer Bob Frey frequently expressed this opinion to the listening public: "If I'm in Top Fuel, the one thing I don't want to see is that Kalitta car pulling up in that other lane.
(Excerpt) Read more at sports.espn.go.com ...
Saw it last night. His engine caught on fire and the chute was burnt. He never slowed down. Most horric crash I have seen.
I saw the video on FNC this morning. Sad. It look like there wasn’t a pit to slow down the car but a wall. I could be wrong though.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSn94ZoLlQ0
First the fire, then the wall, then the car went flying. They may want to put something else at the end of the track that would better absorb an impact.
He apparently crashed into some sort of barrier (it’s hard to tell from the video) and the car exploded. Most drag strips have a long runout at the end and I’m wondering if that would have made a difference here.
at 317mph, with no chute, I doubt it.
I could swear there was nothing but a concrete wall at the end of that strip! No sand runout, or grass area, nothing but a wall.
Bad year for Connie Kalitta.
It was his 747 cargo plane that broke in half on the runway in Belgium.
Exactly.
Not the least bit funny..
I didn’t see the ACCIDENT...I just saw a car going straight and burst into flames. What was the accident?
links to the video have been posted
Sad we have lost a great driver and a good family man.
I raced at racetracks when Scott’s Father, Connie, raced. My car was in a class below that of the class that Scott and Connie raced and my car was not expected to go as fast as theirs. Still, as we were able to tune my car to make it faster and faster, it got to a point that the only thing I could “see” was the bright colored vehicle next to me.
The light posts that line the track went by so fast that they became a blur and I will admit that sometimes I was scared. There is something that gets in you though that makes it hard to give it up. Scott retired twice. I recall going to the track after I retiring my car and smelling the fuel and hearing the burnouts and to this day I want to try it again.
My heart goes out to the Kalitta Family.
The end of that track empties out onto Pension Road. Several years ago someone actually traveled across the road while trying to adjust to a malfunction.
I don't live too far from Raceway Park been there several times. He was way beyond the track when he hit the wall. The crane you see at the wall is the camera to take an oncoming picture.
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